Lacock Abbey
Friday 13th
My dear Henry
Mr Condy <1> is getting on beautifully with his picture in spite of the cold - and though today is actually the first that he has allowed himself to paint within doors - I told him yesterday I thought we should certainly have to nurse him in a fit of the gout if he persevered - He was out also today - but only for a short time - On Monday Lady Elisabeth <2> means to take him to see the pictures at Bowood <3> - He told me that the Editors of the Baronial Halls <4> after publishing in their first numbers - Penshurst & Blickling had applied for leave to take Cothele - but that he Mr Condy had told them that would interfere with his publication <5> - whereupon they asked him to point out some other place of interest, affording views of Interiors as well as a handsome exterior & possessing some historical interest. - Mr Condy wishes to recommend Lacock Abbey to their notice as combining all these requisites - And Lady Elisabeth thinks you would like to have it figured among the ancient Baronial Halls - She desired me to ask you if you were of the same opinion - and if you would like to name any time when the intrusion of their artist would not annoy you - He would not molest you at all unless you happened to be yourself busy in the Cloisters & disliked seeing a man sketching. -
Lord Mt Edgcumbe <6> had fixed to come tomorrow & sleep here, but he has prudently given it up. Lady Louisa & Mr Howard <7> staid till today - She seemed to enjoy her visit extremely - I did not like him quite so much as before - he was too much préoccupé, to be as generally agreeable. I joined them with Horatia <8> in famous walks each day, notwithstanding the cold - But today the wind was too keen for any of us except Lady Elisabeth - She actually went out - though she thought it too bad a day for going to Bath, as we had fixed last night - I am afraid you continue to find London very dark - & that it will hinder your operations -
Your affectionate
Constance -
Notes:
1. Nicholas Condy (1793-1857).
2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773-1846), WHFT,s mother.
3. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
4. The Baronial Halls and Picturesque Edifices of England (London: Chapman and Hall, George Barclay, 1848-1848). This was edited by Samuel Carter Hall (editor of the Art-Union) and illustrated by the artists James Duffield Harding and George Cattermole.
5. Cothele, on the banks of the Tamar: the ancient seat of the Rt. Honble. the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (London: 1840?).
6. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797-1861), WHFT,s brother-in-law.
7. Louisa Howard, née Fitzmaurice (d. 1906), daughter of Lady Louisa Emma Fitzmaurice and James Kenneth Howard (1814-1882).
8. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810-1851), WHFT,s half-sister.